GNCCRacing.com: First off, congrats on your first overall win! How does it feel? 

Grant Baylor: Pretty good! It’s been a long time, I guess. I’ve been doing GNCCs since I was seven, so that’s 13 years now.

Bet it’s nice to go into the summer break with a confidence booster like that. 

Yeah, definitely. I didn’t win physically, which was a bummer, but even running up there with Thad [Duvall] and Kailub [Russell], all those guys, is a confidence booster just on its own. Especially given how my year’s been going so far; I haven’t really had any good rides up until now, at least in the GNCC series. So yeah, it definitely provides some motivation going into break, so that I can repeat m results from Ohio when we come back.

You mentioned that your GNCC season hasn’t been great, but I know that you’ve had some decent finishes in the National Enduros. Do you prefer one discipline over the other? 

Well, I enjoy doing both, but for different reasons. I would say that the Enduros are nice because they’re a little more laid back. There’s always a lot going on at the GNCCs, and the Enduros are pretty quiet by comparison, so you can relax a little during the weekend. Plus you get breaks between the tests too. The trails aren’t as fast or as beat up either. The GNCCs are good for completely opposite reasons. You’re racing hard for three hours on rough trail against the best guys, and it is so mentally and physically tough. It’s a challenge! I couldn’t pick one over the other as a favorite. 

Back to the GNCCs, it seems like you have the speed to be competitive, but lack consistency. What was different about this race, and how are you hoping to address the problem in the future?

Yeah…. For one, I need to start the race out good, the way I did in Ohio. I actually had a decent first couple of laps. I didn’t let the top guys get away from me and kept them in sight, which is something I sometimes have a problem with early on. Once they get away, it’s hard to keep up the pace that I need to. I also need to work on finishing stronger at the end too. I think it’s a combination of confidence and endurance. 

So do you think that the fading problem you have is a mental issue, like you struggle to stay focused toward the end of the race, or do you think it’s strictly a physical issue? 

I would say both. On the mental side of it, I know I should be doing better, so I beat myself up about it and then it’s just a vicious cycle. And three hours on a bike at a GNCC is a really long time, believe me! And I’ve been behind the pack a lot more then I’d like this year, and when you’re not there in the group with the fast guys at the end of the race, it’s so much harder to summon the motivation for that final push to the finish. But if someone’s right there in your line of sight, pushing is no problem at all. It also seems like your fitness levels are so much worse when you’re not riding well. I don’t know exactly why – maybe it’s because when you’re with the pack, you’re so busy thinking about how to make a pass or what you need to do, and not on how physically demanding the racing it. Like in Ohio I wasn’t even tired after the race, where at other times this season, I’ve pulled into the pits feeling really beat up. I think a lot of this is in your head.

Do you think growing up with a brother who would also go on to race professionally gave you an advantage in your own career?

I’ll say it was definitely an advantage to have me and Stu growing up together. We both started really young as well – he started riding when he was four and I was three, so there’s that too. As long as I’ve been riding, I was always chasing him and trying to catch up. I could watch him too, and try to pick up on some things from him, and blend some of his style with mine, start doing things the way he did if it was working better than how I was. And on top of that, there was always someone to train with. Having him there to ride with, to go to the gym with was much easier than training alone would have been. I think all of that has helped to get me to where I am now. 

I know you’re not very old for a professional racer – 20 years old, right?  

Yeah, I’m 20. Most of the other guys are older. Stu is 23, but I think Kailub and Thad are like 26 or 27, something like that. 

So where do you see yourself in five years, when you’re their age? 

I would hope that I can get to where Kailub or Thad or even my brother are at. When I’m 25, I hope to be as good as those guys are, but this sport is brutal, and anything can happen. I came into it a lot earlier than most do, like you said I’m a younger pro guy and most of those guys who are up there now were still in XC2 when they were my age. I feel like there’s a little window of time in this sport, and you can only hang on so long. You spend maybe five years at your peak and then it’s over. But I think because I started so young, I’m only now starting to approach that peak, and I really believe than in the next year or two I’ll be one of the guys to beat!

Stepping back from the racing, you are still just a kid, really. What do you like to do for fun when you aren’t racing? 

Well, my brother and I love to go hunting and fishing, really any kind of outdoors stuff. We go hang out on the lake and jet ski. Even though it’s technically training, mountain biking is really fun, especially if you can get a good group of guys.